The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and an analyzer.
There is known a method of obtaining a mapping image by scanning an electron beam or the like on a specimen and detecting a characteristic X-ray emitted from each area of the specimen through use of an energy-dispersive X-ray detector (EDS detector) or a wavelength-dispersive X-ray detector (WDS detector) (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-7245).
The mapping image obtained in this manner may be subjected to smoothing processing in order to improve an S/N ratio. A method using a wavelet transform, a method using a moving average filter, and other such method are known as a method of performing the smoothing processing on the mapping image. In a case where the smoothing processing is performed on the mapping image through use of the wavelet transform, the moving average filter, or the like, image quality may deteriorate depending on an image when the smoothing is performed under a fixed condition. Therefore, in order to use those methods to perform the smoothing processing, a user needs to determine the condition (degree of smoothing) for the smoothing for each image.
As described above, the user hitherto determines the condition for the smoothing while viewing the mapping image in order to perform the smoothing processing on the mapping image.
However, when the user determines the condition for the smoothing, it may take the user much time to determine the condition, or the user may fail to find an optimal condition, which is burdensome to the user. There are also variations in determination of the condition for the smoothing depending on the user.